Atrophied Illusion
by Chevira Lowe
Summary: Sometimes it takes losing everything to realize you had anything in the first place. Sasuke needs to have some common sense smacked into him, and there's a fox-boy keen on doing some smackage.
1. Dwelling in the Chapel of Sin

Atrophied Illusion

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Summary: _Sometimes it takes losing everything to realize you had anything in the first place. _

A/N: One of those annoying 'We're in for the long haul' sorts of fics. You'll have to excuse me for slapping Sasuke around repeatedly, but _damn _that boy's a total whiner. The fact that I'm writing the story from his third-person-limited POV speaks volumes about the extent of my masochism, oy.

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Chapter One;

_Dwelling in the Chapel of Sin. _

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"So, am I your prisoner, then?"

That, surprisingly enough, earned him a bit of a frown from Uzumaki Naruto, flat-lipped and entirely too serious. Or perhaps not serious enough. There was a bruise on his cheek, a paling shadow that had yet to heal. Or maybe it was just the poor lighting, his mind playing tricks on him. The greater injury, Sasuke knew, wasn't external. Wouldn't even be visible to a Hyuuga's superior vision. And of course, Naruto would never admit that it was there, a small festering wound somewhere too deep to be called his heart and too guarded to be his soul.

Sasuke sneered at him, shifted in his bonds and wondered when dead last had learned to tie knots quite so well, or to such great effect.

Naruto's look changed, softened somewhat, and he leaned over and loosened the ropes about his wrists. "No," he said firmly. "Not my prisoner." His grin was back, tempered with something not quite steel, but hard and unbreakable just the same. "Just a stupid bastard."

Sasuke twisted his hands, trying to restore his circulation. "You know I'll go back to him. He needs me—" And how strange that sounded, coming from his lips. The words were automatic, prolific. They came unheeded and could hardly leave the same.

"So do we!" Naruto's eyes flashed, for a moment showing a hint of Kyuubi-crimson, and Sasuke bit off the rest of his sentence to stew in silence. Naruto, however, wasn't finished. "We've needed you for the last three years, Sasuke! You were supposed to care about us and instead you abandoned us for—for—for _what!"_

Sasuke didn't meet his eyes. Couldn't, almost. He moved again, staring resolutely anywhere but the boy with the demon inside him. The walls of the small shack were boring, no help there. He couldn't see out the window, though he could feel the breeze, light and free. A lone spider scuttled across the floor and into a crack. What was it running from?

Naruto seemed to have calmed down, which although a welcome change, wasn't reassuring. He'd always been the volatile one. "So," he started again, not bitter, but _hurt, _and somehow that was worse. No matter what Sasuke had said, no matter what he'd _done, _Naruto wouldn't retaliate with intentional cruelty. Physical pain wasn't what Sasuke was after. He wanted the sort of pain that would keep him awake at night, poignant and prominent, the scouring of a soul he didn't think he had. Naruto, oblivious to his inner turmoil, continued, "So I'm going to take you back to Konoha if it kills us both to do it. If I have to drag you back, Sasuke, I will. Or carry you. Whatever I have to do, I'll do it."

Sasuke gave him a calculating look. Naruto had changed, most definitely. And even in three years, they hadn't grown as apart as Sasuke might have liked. His eyes were still a best friend's eyes, his emotion still as real and as heartfelt as it had been that day on the borderlands. Some part of him, buried and quiescent, had known and never forgotten what he'd left behind. Friendship, love. A wealth of relations that should have been hoarded like dragon's gold. Instead he'd cast aside an entire fortune in feelings and went looking for something he _knew _would leave him irreparably shattered. In his own way, he was as stubborn as Naruto. He couldn't, _wouldn't _give up. The world could fall to hell around him, ashes and absinthe, and he'd stay alive for one reason and one reason only. Revenge.

Maybe he'd let himself get captured on purpose.

Or maybe he was just getting slow.

Naruto stood up, paced. If he would have had a tail, Sasuke wagered that it'd be flicking back and forth right now, like some sort of caged beast. Ironically, it wasn't too far from the truth. Every so often the blonde boy would pause and look out the window of their little retreat, and then his hands would clench and his pacing would resume and he'd mutter under his breath things that Sasuke couldn't hear.

Well, he didn't have to hear it. Not when he had the Sharingan. So he fell back upon the age-old curse that had –in a sense- stolen his life and read his lips instead.

_Sakura-chan, where are you? You promised you and Kakashi would be here. Where, where, where…?_

Sasuke thought he'd forgotten more than he remembered about Team Seven, but apparently he was wrong. Memories roiled in his mind like a nest of eels, electric and volatile. Kakashi was still a lazy teacher, almost to the point of ineptitude, until he got in a fight. And there he was so deadly that there were few who could tangle with him and survive. And there was Sakura, a foolish girl with a childhood crush, and the last night he'd seen her crept unbidden to his mind, a pitiful offering before an altar wrought of misery. She'd begged him not to go. And just how many nights had she cried herself to sleep after he left, because she hadn't been good enough…?

"Where is she?" he asked abruptly of Naruto, who stopped, rubbed at the back of his neck. Removed his forehead protector and tried not to fidget. Failed valiantly, like he should have so many times before. Sasuke wouldn't have let him fall all the way. He would have caught him. Could have saved him. He wanted to be _somebody's _savior. In a cruel twist of reverse irony, it seemed that everyone was always trying to save _him _instead. He could have hated the world for that alone.

"Who?" Naruto inquired innocently, as if he didn't know. He'd defended Sakura once to Sasuke already since their reconciliation. Punched him and told –_reminded-_ him how much he'd hurt her. Demanded that he apologize, and didn't bother leaving the 'Or I'll kick your damned ass' unspoken.

"Sakura, idiot."

"Oh. Uh…I don't know. They'll be back soon. We're supposed to wait here until they do, and then Sakura can heal you." He gestured unrepentantly at Sasuke's broken leg, where he himself had snapped it. It was a vicious break, and although Naruto had bound it, blood seeped through the covering and stained the jacket that he'd used to tie it with. Sasuke had tried to stay unaware of it until now, but the injury –once acknowledged- started throbbing again. He scowled.

The fight had been nothing short of glorious, he was sure. The sort that sparked legends, inspired epic ballads. Absently, he wondered who'd be regarded as the quintessential 'villain'. _Hah, one guess. _Even so. Naruto, who healed far faster than he did, had been badly injured as well. But this time…this time, he'd _won. _Not quite so dead-last any more. In fact, he was probably above Jounin-level.

But then, so was Sasuke. And as both had been trained by their respective sennin counterparts…

It had been brutal, bloody, and had taken several hours to resolve. The forest in which they'd tangled was now a crater, from the combined meshing of Chidori and Rasengan. Sasuke almost didn't remember why they'd fought in the first place, save that even after all this time, Naruto still cared. Enough to come looking for him, enough to risk his life again. There could be such a thing as caring too much, he realized. And Naruto didn't know how not to. He gave and he gave and he never asked for anything in return because he'd never had anyone to ask before. He'd do anything for his friends, for the people he loved. Up to and including dragging them back from the brink of their own damnation.

And now they were here in a run-down, ancient place, exhausted and exalted, fresh from the fighting that they couldn't stay away from. Sasuke was tied to a chair and Naruto was tied to his destiny, bonds they both tried to ignore. Bonds they both knew they had to acknowledge sooner or later.

Naruto leaned against the wall. "I'm hungry," he announced unequivocally, probably more for something to say than to actually spark a conversation. His stomach rumbled as though to prove his point, and Sasuke pursed his lips with ill-concealed contempt.

"That doesn't surprise me. Idiot."

Naruto grinned at him, a legitimate, 'hey, we're friends, right?' sort of grin. Sasuke could have forgotten right there that they were supposed to be enemies, that they'd tried to kill each other. He could have forgotten the years they'd spent estranged, buried them amongst the skeletons of their past. It would have been so easy to slip back into routine and familiarity and kinship. And then Naruto spoke again, and Sasuke lost the thread of pleasant illusion, jerked back unceremoniously to the cold cruel world.

"So…how long until that bastard has to do the…y'know…switch. …Thing. Eh?" Leave it to Naruto to be eloquent.

Sasuke almost flinched, controlled it at the last second and turned it into a nonchalant shrug. "Within twenty-four hours."

"Yes!" Naruto hissed triumphantly. "We're gonna get the bastard this time! I'll kick his ass for sure, as soon as you're back in Konoha, and everyone's all right!" He wanted everything to be the same. Naruto thrived under change and adversity, but it was no secret that he was fond of stability and security. He probably didn't wish to undo the past-it wasn't his style- but he'd sure as hell re-write the future, if he could.

Sasuke wanted to kill him for being so blindly optimistic. His reflexes were almost conditioned. There were two chairs in the room, one of which Sasuke was occupying, the other Naruto had been using earlier was now empty. Sasuke kicked it with his good leg, as hard as he could, and even though Naruto stopped it, the message was clear, scrawled in blood-red technicolor. _I'll stop you. _

Naruto's grin faded slightly.

"You're a real jerk, Sasuke," he said abruptly, cheer returned full force. "I've missed you."

"Shut up! Shut _up, _Naruto! You haven't missed me! You never _knew _me!"

"Oh?" With a sort of caution that he hadn't possessed three years ago, Naruto peered out the cabin's lone window, in both directions, before glancing back to Sasuke. He re-tied his forehead protector where it belonged, and flicked at one errant spiky bang. "Maybe not. But you're still my brother."

He said it so openly, so honestly, like that word wasn't a knife in the gut to the survivor of the Uchiha clan. But then, he'd never been tactful. Brothers. In blood if not in truth. In tears and rare smiles and pain and rivalry, instead. Sasuke looked away, focused on the pain in his leg. Focus, focus, breathe, and then everything was fine again.

"I don't have to like what you've done," Naruto continued blithely, babbling although he had to know that wasn't what Sasuke wanted to hear. "Really, I don't care. You've always been a jerk. But…you're a jerk that shared your lunch with me, once. And you're a jerk that almost got killed for me. And you're a jerk that was so good at everything that you made me try harder and get better." He flashed a quick thumbs-up. "So stop whining like a girl, Sasuke. Because you're also a jerk that I won't hesitate to gag."

Silence reigned for a time, ambivalent but unavoidable. Every so often, Naruto would open his mouth as if to speak, to ask a question, to say something, but he seemed to think better of it and keep quiet instead. It didn't suit him. So Sasuke kept studying the walls, the floors, and his own awkwardly bound leg. Eventually, when he ran out of things to glower at, he sent a covert look to Naruto.

The damned boy had grown like a weed. Taller than Sasuke now by a handful of centimeters, though far more gangly. His coordination wasn't as bad as it should have been, but then, he was a shinobi. Clumsy shinobi were walking dead. Sasuke was more compact, more lithe. More, he fancied, competent. Although surely Naruto would have attested to that fact. Maybe they would have grappled, maybe he would have won. Maybe, maybe…

After a time, Naruto pulled out a sort of ration-bar, a flat, flavorless thing issued to ninjas on long trips. Nutritious as hell, but they tasted like sandals that had been marinated in a cat's litter box. The wrapper crinkled loudly in their self-imposed silence, fluttered to the floor like a discarded notion of a broken dream.

Naruto gave him half. Smiled, in a manner that Sasuke couldn't understand because he didn't want to. "Now we're even, huh? Now all I have to do is almost-die for you, and I'll have caught up completely." It was a joke, but a bad one. Naruto showed remarkable foresight in that he knew it was a mistake the second he'd said it.

Sasuke didn't call him on it. Couldn't be bothered. He'd learned all he cared to learn from Naruto, now he had to focus on escaping and getting back to Orochimaru. To what purpose? Well, that was no one's business but his own.

Two hours later, Sakura still hadn't shown up.

-

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura sprang lightly away from Kabuto's corresponding blow, the one that should have ended the fight there and now, though her concern wasn't for herself. She felt a ripple in the air caused by the residual force of the blow, and she had to take a moment to catch her breath. It wasn't a fatal moment, not for her, but Kakashi, stubborn and injured, was the more vulnerable of the two of them. And her sensei was Kabuto's target.

Kakashi had stopped using the sharingan some time ago, as he couldn't maintain it any longer. He'd used Chidori three times, and Sakura knew that if he tried it again, he'd die.

She wasn't about to let that happen. Quickly, she gathered chakra in her hands, drew back and split the ground wide open, leaving Kakashi on an island of unstable rock. Kabuto teetered back, away from the edge and shot her a flat look, clearly displeased with this new development. He'd meant to kill her sensei right then and there, because he better liked the odds of a one-on-one fight. Kakashi looked briefly surprised at her, and then he half-collapsed, coughing and choking, to one knee.

"Do I have to kill you first, Sakura-chan?" Kabuto asked, almost piteously. He had no problem with fighting and killing women, but maybe there was some part of him that yet existed that could actually be described as _gentlemanly. _Or maybe he just assumed that Hatake Kakashi was the bigger threat.

She braced herself, standing straight, feet apart and shoulders back. She knew her chakra was low, even with the endurance that she'd gained under Tsunade's tutelage. It took sheer willpower to keep her standing straight.

Kabuto was a medical ninja. Sakura was a medical ninja. They were on the same level. She recalled the old adage, 'fight fire with fire' and marveled how at how apt a term it was.

_Naruto…where are you?_

Of course, Naruto had faith in her and in Kakashi. He probably expected them to have won. He was probably waiting for them in their designated retreat right now. Was Sasuke there…? Was he still the same? She reasoned that the first thing she'd do to him when she saw him again was punch him. Hard. He deserved it, after all. She'd gotten over her crush, to the point where she recalled her infatuation of him with distaste. _How could I have been so blind?_ So she had to survive. So she could hit him. And tell him what an idiot he was. And…how much she'd missed him.

And maybe she'd hit him again, for good measure.

She closed her eyes.

She knew she was losing this fight. Just because she knew didn't mean she had to like it. Somewhere within her, Inner Sakura was yelling and screaming and swearing, using words that Sakura would never have admitted she knew. _Let me out, I'll kick his ass! That weak little pansy bitch! Kill him already!_

Kabuto was closer, now. He was walking with a bit of a limp, his Chidori-inflicted injury obviously not quite regenerated yet, although he tried hard. He had his limits, too.

But Sakura had been gathering chakra to a small gem nestled in the hollow of her collarbone for the past three years. And she had yet to tap that awesome reserve. The seal was dangerous, so dangerous that she'd had to beg Tsunade to let her learn it. Life or death situations, Tsunade had said. Don't use it at any other time.

Well, this was as good a time as any.

She started the hand-seals, backing up as she did so. Kabuto, recognizing them, moved faster.

And in the distance, Sakura heard the tell-tale noise of the thousand birds. _Chi, chi, chi, chi. _

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kabuto turned, but not quite fast enough. Kakashi caught him full in the chest with the Chidori, and both men stumbled. A second later, Kabuto collapsed, and Kakashi swayed on his feet.

"Sensei!" Sakura scrambled over to him and caught him just before he fell. He grinned at her, she could see it in his eyes, and flashed a tired victory sign, worn and bloody and not nearly as sweet as it should have been.

"That…took effort, naa, Sakura…?" He slumped against her, leaning heavily and she too staggered, unable to support his weight in her own weakened state.

"Sensei…" she said quietly, trying to sound stern, trying to keep her voice from being choked with tears. She felt blood on his uniform, on her hands, and if she didn't do something, _right now…_

_Nonsense, _she told herself firmly. _You're a medical ninja. Now fix this. _

Somehow, practicing on fish didn't quite prepare one for the real thing.

"Here, Kakashi," she announced curtly, laying him out on the ground. She dropped the honorific both to catch and hold his attention and to show him just who was in charge here. Her hands moved quickly, unthinkingly, in one of the seals of her medical jutsu, and she held the orb of healing chakra over one of his wounds. He half-flinched.

"Yeow." And didn't _that _sound enthusiastic…? "That hurts a little, hm?" His voice was a quiet mumble, pushed off-kilter by a cocktail of adrenaline and exhaustion and pain.

She resisted the urge to smack him, rubbed a forearm across her eyes instead. Her vision was blurring, and she knew she was at her utmost limit. There was no reason to release her seal now, and if she did, Tsunade would yell at her like crazy, when they were finally found. And they would be. Naruto would come looking for them, and, and…

_That idiot had better come…or else… _she thought distantly to herself, moments before she lost consciousness and slumped over Kakashi's prone form almost protectively.

-

"You can't look for them and keep an eye on me at the same time, you know," Sasuke informed the still-pacing Naruto with a touch of smugness. Naruto, running a hand through his hair, half-glared at him.

"I know that! Why the hell won't you just cooperate with me, damnit!" Fists clenched, he punched one of the rickety walls of the shack. Suffering under the blow, the entire structure shook, and Sasuke shook plaster from his hair with a touch of annoyance.

"Because…" _I'm not here to make life easy for you, because you shouldn't care and you do and I want to hate you for that but I can't because I'm not who I pretend to be…_ "Nothing can go the way you want it to all the time, Naruto."

Naruto glared again, frustrated and worried. "And you'd run…?" he asked finally, quietly. "You'd run away again?"

Sasuke didn't want to answer him, didn't want to state what should already be known as truth. But Naruto's open, honest eyes demanded it anyway, in whatever form it may ultimately take.

"Yes." And why wasn't he as sure as he thought he was?

"Then I'll just have to carry you, huh?" Naruto stretched, cracked his knuckles. Looking determined even through the concern he was feeling for the comrades that Sasuke had betrayed. "One way or another."

-

Criticism-paws at the general populous curiously-


	2. Edge of Forever

Atrophied Illusion

AN: Messing with Kakashi, angsting poor Naruto and the plot limps along somehow. Uber-much thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys rule liek woah! –um. Intentional bad spelling.

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Chapter Two;

_Edge of Forever_

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_Sakura had spent the entire night pacing. Every so often, the walls would suffer her wrath, and Naruto would have to grab her arm and stop her from demolishing the house right under his nose. Her face was streaked with tears that she probably hadn't realized she'd shed, and Naruto, although he wanted to give her a comforting hug, reasoned that it probably wasn't a good idea. But then, when had he ever cared about that? He hugged her anyway, and she read it as support and not as him goofing off, which was how he'd intended it. _

_"Your hair smells funny," he told her, trying for a lighter mood. Anything was better than this…suffrage. _

_"Naruto, we're going to get Sasuke back. Be SERIOUS about this!" she snarled at him. She would have hit him if they would have been further apart. _

_Briefly, Naruto held her at arm's length, with all the solemnity that he could muster. "I…am serious, Sakura-chan." _

_"…Good." _

Naruto looked at Sasuke, still bound in a chair, still defiant and dangerous, and he smiled. Just a little. "Dead serious," he whispered. He knew that Sakura couldn't hear him, wasn't really trying to make her, but at the moment, he was his own backup, and he hated to admit it, but he needed fortifications against…this. Against knowing that his best friend had tried to kill him no less than twice. Even that didn't make up for almost-dying for him once, although Naruto had already forgiven him.

Not-forgiving Sasuke was a concept that he had never been able to grasp. Brothers don't have to forgive, because everything can stay unspoken and still be heard.

Sasuke glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow in question, but Naruto shrugged it off. "Come on," he continued. "Let's go find our friends."

The Uchiha snorted in contempt.

-

When Kakashi woke up, he was in chains. There was blood in his mouth and he couldn't see –_blindfold?_—and his entire world felt muzzy around the edges, like it'd been dipped in water and dragged through fire. His right arm ached so badly that for a moment he would have gladly took it off at the shoulder just to stop his nerves from burning. And then he gave himself a mental smack for that line of reasoning, because no matter how badly he was hurt, he'd _heal. _It was the ninja way of life. Either you lived or you died, you healed or you lived a cripple and Kakashi would be _damned _if he was going to succumb to the latter.

It just wasn't his style.

"Sensei—" a soft voice hiccoughed off to his right and he tried to turn. Learned that the chains were doing more than holding him upright, instead. He grunted in annoyance.

"Sakura?"

"Shh, don't move, sensei. You were badly injured, and…" he heard her take a breath. He hated how light his head felt, and how he couldn't quite focus on anything beyond the fact that his body was shot through with shards of ice. Even so, it did nothing to dampen the –_fever? _Right, he'd been injured, badly, and for one moment, in between eternity and anticipation, he'd almost thought he would die. It was a fate he'd obviously escaped again. For a time, sine the life expectancy of people in shackles was never all that optimistic.

"And?" he asked, shaking his head gently. The chain looped about his wrists was anchored on the wall above his head, through a single ring. Ergo, if he lifted one arm, the other was left with a little more room to maneuver, and he touched his face with his left hand. His fingers were cold against his bare cheek. _Mask's gone, _he assessed at about the same time he confirmed _Definitely a fever…_

"I…I'm sorry, sensei, but I had to remove your sharingan eye—" he could hear the pain in the girl's voice. He coughed, trying to clear his throat, not willing to admit that the reason it had so suddenly become obstructed was the fact that the eye had been Obito's…_That was all I had left of you, huh?_

"Sakura, listen to me. There's no time to worry about that sort of thing now. Are you free?" Yes, that's right. Get down to business and don't break the cycle and be a _ninja, _damnit, and everything would eventually be all right.

"Yes," she said to the affirmative, and then came to stand in front of him. He could feel the heat from her body, and, relying on senses other than sight, he could feel her shallow breathing as she pressed chill fingers against his throat to check his pulse, and against his chest to check his heart. "Orochimaru is here."

"Here? Now?" He couldn't detect anyone else in the room, but that presently meant very little. There'd be time for lost tears and regret later, but not, he thought, right now. Right now he had a student -_she's just a kid- _to protect, and he'd do whatever it might take.

"Hello, Kakashi-kun." The voice was strange, not quite like the Orochimaru he remembered, but then he assumed that he'd taken a new host somewhere in the last few years. Kakashi tried to stand straighter, turned his head in the direction of the voice –_wasn't Sakura just standing there? _

"Hello," he returned, not finding a reason to be surly and rebellious just yet. If he could get Orochimaru talking…if Sakura was free, couldn't she? No, she'd die, surely. Hell, Kakashi knew even he couldn't take on Orochimaru, and definitely not in this state…not without Obito's last gift…_Damn. Checkmate?_

"I was very annoyed with you, Kakashi-kun, for killing Kabuto. I was somewhat fond of him," Orochimaru purred, and then leaned closer. Placed a delicate hand against Kakashi's bare chest, just where Sakura's had rested moments before. His hands were cold, too. "Although I should thank you for your sharingan."

He thought he heard Sakura snarl.

"It's not quite as good as having the body of that young boy, Sasuke-kun, but it will suffice for now. Unfortunately, it will be a while until I can change hosts, again. You people _do _like to meddle in my plans, don't you?" The smirk was in his voice, cruel and confident and so hopelessly cruel…

Kakashi smiled a little. "It's kind of my job, you know," he joked. Humorlessly.

Orochimaru chuckled in that sinister way of his. Had he taken a _female _host? It wouldn't be the first time, but Orochimaru's tastes seemed to be getting stranger and stranger these days. Did the body he was using now have family? Friends? People that should recognize her but wouldn't, ever again…? _You're looking through the eyes of a corpse, Orochimaru. _

He could have laughed at the irony of it all, because didn't copy ninja Kakashi know how _that _felt…?

"Kakashi-kun, has it escaped your mind that you're currently completely in my power…?" Now Orochimaru sounded purely quizzical, his soft voice light and musical and so sickly sweet…

"Um." _The fact that I'm shirtless, injured and blindfolded…ooh, _and_ tied up against my will hadn't even occurred to me, no sir._ "Possibly"

Another little laugh. "You haven't changed at all, Kakashi-kun. Still so very stubborn and foolish." And when Orochimaru had cornered him years ago, just when he'd joined ANBU, and asked him, _Wouldn't you like to join me, Kakashi-kun…? _he'd been stubborn then, too. Orochimaru couldn't have forgotten _that, _now could he?

Kakashi knew what Orochimaru was capable of. Didn't have to like it, but knew anyways. Knew that he'd kill Sakura here and now if he thought it would get him anywhere. Knew that he could skin her alive and would probably enjoy it. Kakashi was no stranger to death, and pain seemed to be a fondly remembered companion, and so he'd stand here and not bother keeping his little quips to himself and maybe, just maybe, Orochimaru would forget that there was another person kicking around to torment.

"I guess it never got beat out of me, eh?" he drawled in a complete deadpan.

"Is that an offer?" Orochimaru asked, dryly. The hand against his bare chest was withdrawn. Kakashi tensed for a blow that never fell. "I see such strange things with this eye, you'd hardly believe—although I suppose _you _would. What was it like, to know that that little Uchiha boy's death was your fault? I've caused the deaths of many people, but never a _friend._"

Kakashi was silent a moment. Silent and still like an ocean, and he couldn't break the surface to take a breath, because when he did, the world would shatter. "Now you're going to _have_ to kill me," he said finally, softly, tilting his head to one side, and despite the blindfold, he thought he could almost see Orochimaru's aura through the darkness. "Because—"

"Save your idioms, Kakashi-kun. I really don't have any time to listen to you. You see, I'm going to leave you here. I'll return every so often, to check up on you. Maybe I'll even feed you from time to time. But I have other business to attend to, and you really aren't of any importance to me. If spare bodies weren't so hard to come by these days, I would probably have you killed right now…" he trailed off. Sighed a sort of melodramatic sigh. "I suppose, I shall see you later, Kakashi-kun. But I very much doubt you'll be seeing me…" He chuckled to himself, gave Kakashi one final pat on the cheek, and the sound of his booted feet rang out against the stone floors as he walked away.

When he left, Kakashi was alone. There was no Sakura.

_Where did that bastard take her…?_

The part of him that cared didn't want to know. The part of him that he'd given over to being a shinobi knew that knowledge was perhaps the only thing that could save her life. He twisted his hands in their manacles until they bled, crusted over, and broke open to bleed again. It didn't get him anywhere.

Kakashi had felt useless before, but never quite like _this. _And no matter how many muted snarls he uttered to the darkness, it never abated.

-

If Orochimaru were a different sort of person, he might have let Jiraiya kill him.

If Orochimaru were a different sort of person, he wouldn't have tried to discover an immortality jutsu at the cost of so many lives.

If Orochimaru were a different sort of person, he might have let Sakura go free.

Orochimaru isn't a different sort of person.

-

"Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke, having been spared the indignity of being _carried _by Naruto, had plodded along beside him obligingly. His leg hurt, and he could barely move without some corner of his body sending little shockwaves of pain to his brain, before he remembered that it _was _just his nervous system playing cat and mouse with him.

After that, he ignored the pain. Naruto tugged him along, because he hadn't untied his hands, and he'd babbled enthusiastically all the way here. About what they'd do when they were all back together again, about how things would go back to being the way they should have stayed. About the what-ifs and the maybes and about everything that Sasuke didn't want to talk about but knew he had to hear.

Orochimaru's curse seal against his neck was a constant reminder. It gave off a sort of impulse that was worse than any pain he'd felt, but he'd gotten used to it. Learned how to take it and twist it into something new that he could tolerate, actually learn from. Naruto had noticed it and half-snarled, and something of the demon in him had flashed behind his eyes as he entertained the idea of cutting it out of Sasuke's skin like a cancer.

He hadn't said that aloud. He hadn't had to. Sasuke just _knew. _

Naruto had always been readable like that. And he was even more transparent now, crouched next to Sakura's prone form and dragging her into his arms. She looked horrible. Sasuke was more used to a Sakura that tried to keep up her appearance, and this…wasn't her.

One eye was crusted shut with blood; the entire left side of her face was purple and green with bruises. Her lip had been split open and he could only just hear the rattle of her breathing. The right side of her uniform had been completely drenched in blood, now oxidized and ugly, and she'd probably managed to break more ribs than not.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled again, and he smacked her –delicately- on the side of her face that wasn't horribly mangled. "_Sakura-chan!" _

Sasuke crouched beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. Naruto stiffened and when he looked back to Sasuke, animalistic rage was flooding his gaze. Sasuke suppressed a shudder, because this side of his friend never ceased to unnerve him, and he shook his head finally. "Get going."

There were tears in Naruto's eyes—tears that he probably didn't notice. He'd always been the oblivious sort. But he didn't do as he was asked, and Sakura's broken form didn't leave his arms.

"She's still alive, idiot," Sasuke informed him coolly. "Now you have two choices. You can risk letting her die here, or you can bring her back to Konoha. Either way, I'm going to slow you down, and every second is going to count. So. Let me go—" _Back to Orochimaru—_"and take her and get help."

He didn't really want to admit that seeing Sakura like this bothered him. He wouldn't have admitted it, even had Naruto asked. Even if he'd grabbed him and shook him and yelled and raged and _screamed _because that was probably about how Naruto wanted to treat him right about now. Sasuke didn't really care. They were his teammates. They'd _been _his teammates, but right now his place was at the side of his master. Just because he knew he'd have to kill them -both of them eventually- didn't mean he couldn't play for time right now. _Some part still cares…_and he knows he'll have to kill that part of himself first.

"She'd kill me," Naruto said flatly. He hadn't given up on her yet. He wouldn't, because Naruto didn't give up on people. He never knew how, because he never gave up on himself and he expected the same of everyone around him. It was a high standard to overcome, a harder one to live up to. It was Naruto, whittled down into little hopes and dreams and words. "Sasuke, we're here for _you. _We're here to save you! She…she!"

"_She is going to die." _

Naruto reeled like he'd been slapped. "No she won't!" he snapped. "She's not gonna die 'cause I'm not gonna let her!" If anyone could drag someone back from the dead, it would probably be him. Somewhere along the line, Sasuke had accepted that no amount of genius could defeat Uzumaki Naruto. Didn't mean he had to like it, and he _didn't _like it. But he knew, just the same.

Awkwardly, he reached out and brushed Sakura's hair away from her face and Naruto snarled at him, feral and ferocious and demonic and he didn't bother withdrawing his hand, because if Naruto wanted to bite it off, Sasuke couldn't say he'd blame him. _You should hate me. Both of you. Yet you're here and you think you'll be my savior. _

"Get out of here," Sasuke said softly. "Take her and go. You'll see me again." He stopped himself, but only just, from saying something stupid and corny like 'it's destiny' because there was no point in stating the obvious. They'd started this together, they'd end it in the same way, and if only one of them walked away from the fight…

Naruto rubbed at one tear-stained cheek. There was a protest in his eyes and acceptance in the firm line of his jaw. Sasuke wasn't surprised to know how much he'd grown. He'd grown, too. In different ways, with different methods, but somehow they'd arrived at this point just the same. An apex of turmoil, broken trust and shattered dreams, once dove-white and now stained irreparably red. "Come with me," he pleaded. "Just…forget that Orochimaru asshole! _Sasuke!"_

Sasuke took a step back. It was answer enough.

And then Naruto nodded. Stood up and brought Sakura with him. He wiped his face against his own shoulder and when he looked back to Sasuke, his eyes were dry.

"I'll never give up, you know. Not…not ever. Okay? Wait for me, Sasuke, because…one of these days, I'm gonna win, and everything…everything will be all right."

There was a tremor in his voice, and Sasuke hated that he'd put it there. _I'll wait for you, _some corner of his mind whispered. He didn't say it aloud, because Naruto had already bounded away through the trees with a broken porcelain doll clutched to his chest and he probably wouldn't have heard him anyways.

_After all…I'll have forever._

He'd been developing jutsu of his own, these last few years.

-


	3. Break These Walls

Atrophied Illusion

-

AN: Thanks and uber!hugs to the darling UE, whom I've been bouncing all these random plot ideas off for a while now. Luff you, dearling. Too all my other reviewers, thank you so much! The response I've gotten for this story has exceeded my expectations and I'm both flattered and grateful.

Now, a note to Thermopyle, who was kind enough to take the time to read my story and offer up some criticism. She mentioned that Naruto could have done kage bunshin no jutsu to get Sakura and Sasuke back to the village together. Sasuke's comment of 'I'll slow you down' was actually supposed to be read as him meaning that he'd do it intentionally. They're in enemy territory (Sound territory to be exact) and so Naruto couldn't send a clone with Sakura because it might get attacked. Leaving a clone with Sasuke has the same effect, seeing as how he could kill it easily. Also, I believe there's a limit as to how far Naruto can be away from a clone, because even with his stamina, he can't maintain them indefinitely. I hope that clears it up!

-

_Break These Walls_

-

Corpses didn't bother Sasuke. He'd been around enough of them in his time to know that, essentially, they were harmless. If you didn't let yourself be bothered, you could forget the way their glassy eyes stared at the boundless sky, the way their blood cooled at your feet, _-the way your brother stands beside bodies already given over to death, acting like this was preordained all along- _and so Sasuke knew that no matter what, these things couldn't possibly get to him, because he wouldn't let them. Because…because… _I wanted to measure my capacity…_

Sasuke liked to pretend that he was nothing like Itachi. And then everything had fallen together, a grotesque puzzle of blood and bone, and Sasuke knew that when he looked in the mirror, it was Itachi's dark eyes that looked back at him. Vengeance was not so much a matter of _revenge_ as it was one of pure selfish _necessity. _Sasuke could never be at peace as long as that man haunted his dreams. And he'd do whatever it would take to achieve that goal, whatever…

_Except…he was there, and I could have killed him, and I didn't. Does he mean that much to me?_

_When I was with you…I wondered what it was like to be with a brother…_

He jerks the tether of his thoughts, hating himself for his lapse in self-perception, and stares down at Kabuto's corpse. His glassy eyes are staring at the boundless sky, just like all the rest, and his blood has already cooled, congealed and browning in the air. And it doesn't make any difference, because death comes for everyone eventually. Not only is Sasuke an avenger, but a harbinger, and he litters casualties wherever he goes like some macabre repository of accomplishments.

This dead body was no more unnerving than any of the others, but Sasuke had felt a sort of kinship with the older man, who'd taken him under his wing and taught him what was expected of someone in the service of Orochimaru. It wasn't that Sasuke was sorry he was dead, it was just that…for a while, he'd thought that something might have come of their tentative kinship. He wasn't naive enough to consider friendship, but something, maybe...

So, in doing his service for the dead, he crouched by the man's body and reached out, removed his glasses and closed his eyes with awkward fingers. There was a very faint residual smirk on Kabuto's face, and it almost made Sasuke shiver. Almost.

And then, what should have been a dead man twitched. His hand shot up and grabbed Sasuke's arm, and Sasuke half-yelled, startled and broke the grip with a quick and complicated flick of his captured wrist.

Kabuto blinked and sat up. Studied Sasuke and then smiled that careful little smile that always seemed so hesitant and shy. "Ah, Sasuke-kun, my apologies. I didn't hurt you, did I?" He reached for Sasuke's hand and the shorter boy jerked it further away, staring.

"You-"

"Are alive, yes," he said bemusedly, rubbing at his bloodied lips with the back of one hand. "Although I very much doubt I'll be performing any jutsu in the near future, it took almost all of my chakra to partially deflect that last blow of your old teacher." He winced, touched a finger to his leg, where the Chidori had taken a chunk out of him. "They're very skilled, Kakashi and that girl..."

Still somewhat unnerved, Sasuke sat back on the charred turf, shaking his head in something almost like amazement. But then, he reasoned, Kabuto shouldn't really surprise him any more. This was a man that he'd once seen stitch himself up with only the help of a mirror, _without_ anesthetic. Unnerving seemed too tame a word to ply to him, and yet Sasuke couldn't think of an appropriate alternative, because Kabuto was…remarkable.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, we should be getting back to Orochimaru-sama, don't you thi-" Kabuto paused, retrieved his glasses from Sasuke's hand and settled them back across his nose. Vision sharpened, he took in the slender boy, assessed his injuries with the cool professionalism of a medic and tut-tutted over the badly bandaged leg. "Did Naruto-kun do this?"

Sasuke looked away. His face was set and his shoulders were terse when he finally responded. "Yes."

"He's…not good with bandages, is he?" Kabuto shifted his glasses, leaned over and began to unwrap the blood-soaked jacket. Sasuke winced as he did it, but the medical ninja didn't seem at all troubled by the jagged gash where the bone had broken through his skin. Naruto had set it, cursing all the while, and Sasuke had let him because the only alternative would have pushed the blonde boy into breaking _more _bones, and while Sasuke was many things, a masochist wasn't one of them.

"Not very," Sasuke said warily, as Kabuto poked and prodded at him and 'hmmed' thoughtfully.

"I could heal this if I had any chakra left, but for now you'll have to deal with it simply being splinted and bandaged," he told him as he reached for a pouch at his side, ignoring the fact that the canvas material was stained with blood he'd shed a scant while earlier. Sasuke watched his hands while he worked, because Kabuto had very graceful hands, affluent and confident, and because it was better than focusing on pain.

"Naruto wanted me to go with him," he said offhandedly, not really looking for a conversation but knowing that Kabuto would chatter back regardless.

"Ah?" The pale man was biting his lip in concentration as he started re-setting the bone. It grated horribly and the shockwave set Sasuke's teeth on edge. "I'm surprised you didn't, Sasuke-kun."

"Oh?" A silver needle flashed in the medic's hands, and he threaded it deftly, started stitching up the wound itself. Sasuke dug his fingers into the loamy ground and tried not to squirm. "Why's that?"

Kabuto smiled at him rather quickly before returning to his work. "Because…you and Naruto-kun are the same, in many ways. People like that are very hard to find, and when found, they should be treasured, don't you think?" The needle made faint popping noises as it was threaded through his skin, but it was almost a catharsis, a sharp contrast to the pain.

"…He's nothing like me."

"Ah? My mistake, I suppose." Kabuto finished, tied the thread off efficiently and cut it with a kunai. "I'm going back to the village. Are you going to come with me, Sasuke-kun…? Or…?" He glanced in the direction that Naruto had gone, burdened with Sakura's nearly-lifeless body, and Sasuke shivered inexplicably. How could he have known the exact route they'd taken…?

"I'll come," Sasuke said, somewhat firmer than he'd meant to. It almost came off as insincere, and Kabuto cast him a rather odd glance, puzzled and perplexed, but he said nothing. Merely got to his feet tiredly, wincing delicately at the pain that wracked his own form, and then he offered a hand to Sasuke, who didn't take it. Sasuke hated to, and wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but Kabuto's words unnerved him, almost more than seeing Naruto again after all this time.

"Orochimaru-sama will be happy, I'm sure," Kabuto reassured him, touching his shoulder with a healer's gentleness.

Sasuke shrugged him off and started walking.

-

Naruto knew he'd been followed about half an hour after he'd left Sasuke in the clearing. He should have expected it, because after all, they were in Sound territory, and Orochimaru's reaches were boundless. So he adjusted his grip on the pink-haired girl in his arms and wrestled to get his hands free. The jutsu he performed was one he'd used so many times before that he lost count. Shadow clones, two of them, manifested in little puffs of smoke, and one of them immediately assumed Sakura's form with a minor genjutsu spell. He would have gladly provided his followers with a dozen other distractions, but his chakra was severely depleted and he knew he'd have to conserve enough that if he got in a fight, he'd come out alive.

Naruto wasn't used to thinking so far ahead, and he admitted that it wasn't quite his style to do so. Even so, Sakura was more important now than any half-baked vanity on his behalf, and so he planned. Raced through the treetops and knew that his timing was a matter of life and death. Sakura was barely breathing, and even though Naruto knew she wouldn't die (_knew, _because he wouldn't _let _her) he could still worry, a little.

He didn't really want to worry a lot, after all.

The Sound nins, for there were two of them, were clever but not quite clever enough. One of them veered off to chase the duplicates, and the other stayed on Naruto's tail, no longer bothering to disguise his pursuit, seeing as how he knew he'd been found out. Naruto ran faster, and wondered when in the hell Sakura had gained so much weight, and knew she would beat the hell out of him if she suspected he'd so much as _thought _that.

As long as she survived to do it, he supposed he wouldn't mind so much.

The Sound nin drew closer, and Naruto took a chance, eking to an abrupt halt, watching as the older man rushed past him. And then he'd dropped from the forest canopy to the ground, set Sakura down against a tree and flung three shuriken in quick succession after the other ninja, who dodged with little effort. Naruto growled in frustration and closed his eyes, trying to tap the immense chakra sleeping within him. He'd drawn on it earlier, in his fight with Sasuke -

-_"I won't kill you!" _

_"You'll have to, if you want to stay alive." _

_"Sasuke!" _

_"Fight me!"-_

-but something of it would still remain, because the nine tails was deadly and dangerous and anything but stupid, and it liked to see Naruto sweat a little, especially in fights that could mean life or death. It was a peculiar game of cat and mouse, or maybe fox and human, and Naruto had always been good at games in which the odds were stacked against him. The demon in him was sleeping, dormant until it could recover its chakra, and he waded through that immense labyrinth to find it.

_Stupid fox…_

And then was a stinging pain and his concentration shattered like a crystal dropped to a hardwood floor, and he looked down to see a kunai embed itself in his chest and he had time to think only one thing before he lost control, _Sasuke, I can't die until I save you…!_

The demon roared to life, and what had once been quiet and quiescent was now blazing with fury and killing intent. The Sound nin didn't stand a chance, and Naruto couldn't have stopped even if he wanted to. He tore the man to shreds, oblivious to his pleas of mercy.

Afterwards, there was darkness.

-

Of all the things in the world that Naruto might have considered pleasant to wake up to, Shikamaru Nara's face was not, repeat _not _one of them. Unsurprisingly, such a development made him yell with shock's close cousin and try, with less strength than he might have liked, to get away from the looming visage.

"Oy…" Shikamaru exclaimed softly, as he reached out and placed a hand flat against Naruto's chest where there should have been, by all rights, a gaping, fatal wound. "Don't be so hasty," the young man continued, "'cause you're not going anywhere for a while."

Naruto hissed against the residual pain that haunted his body and allowed himself to be restrained. "Sakura?"

"She's being taken care of," Shikamaru assured him. "She's badly injured, though." Unspoken drifted the words _we aren't sure if she's going to make it, _but Naruto refused to listen to those because that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Can I see her? Now?" He tried to sit up again and was pushed forcibly back down by the adamant Chuunin.

"Later."

"But!"

"_Later." _

"But I just want to make sure she's all right!" Naruto rubbed at his chest in memory, wincing slightly as he recalled the precise angle at which the kunai had driven home. How many times had he come so close to dying now, only to be saved by the demon inside him? How many more times would it take, before blessing outweighed curse?

"I checked on her." And as he talked, Shikamaru made himself at home on Naruto's hospital bed, yawning tiredly and rubbing at a cheek with the back of one scarred hand. "Trust me on this, Naruto. It's better if you stay here for now. I brought food, heh?" The enticing aroma of ramen was enough to deter the blonde boy from that train of thought, however momentarily. If his heart ruled his head, then his stomach held at least some definitive sway over his heart. He pounced on the proffered victuals with the enthusiasm of a man that hadn't eaten in several days.

"So," Shikamaru began, watching Naruto eat with due caution, ducking out of the way to avoid the errant splatter of noodles. "What happened?"

"Fought Sasuke." Munch, slurp.

"And…?"

"Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei-" _slurp _"-Fought Kabuto. I…I couldn't find Kakashi." From the expression on Naruto's face, the thought had only just occurred to him. His fingers stilled on the chopsticks of the ramen and he gave Shikamaru an anguished look.

"We searched the area," Shikamaru supplied without hesitation. "Found both battle sites. There were no bodies, so it seems likely that Kakashi is still alive."

"But - I _left _him! I should have looked for him!"

"Calm down, already. You're not doing anything by sitting here crying over spilt…ramen." This last was directed to the fact that Naruto had tipped his nearly-forgotten bowl, spilling noodles here and there. Hastily, he righted it.

"Shikamaru, I have to go find Kakashi!"

"_Not _in that state, you're don't." Shikamaru folded his arms and managed to produce an amazingly proficient 'do not argue with me' aura for someone who was generally too lazy to bother. "You're going to sit and tell me the rest of what happened so I know what I'm dealing with, here."

Naruto had never been the sort to be cowed by anyone, much less Shikamaru. So he struggled out of bed, shoved the dark-haired boy out of his way and headed for the door. "Sorry, Shikamaru! I have to find Kakashi-sensei!"

He froze abruptly as he made it over the threshold. _I can't move…_

"Shikamaru!"

The genius grunted in what might have been his attempt at an apology. "My stamina's pretty good these days. I can hold you as long as necessary. But I'd rather not, seeing as how it's annoying and tiring. Are you going to behave?"

Naruto might have slumped, had he been in possession of his motor skills right then and there. Instead, he growled. "Damnit…damnit! Shikamaru!"

The dark-haired boy grimaced. "I'm sorry, really," he said gently as he released his shadow hold on the other young ninja. "But we've got a problem on our hands. If Orochimaru can amass an attack on us, right now, I have to know about it, and you're the only one with the information I need. I'll send a group out to look for Kakashi, but _you _are staying _here." _He blew out his breath in an exasperated sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, a single life was not worth the lives of everyone else in the village. He'd been taught _that _lesson by Sasuke. And Shikamaru had never been a slow learner. "Okay?"

Naruto, free of the jutsu, turned and glared at him, but it wasn't Shikamaru he was angry with, and the boy knew it. So he allowed it and dismissed it with nothing more than a wave of one hand. "Sit, finish your food and tell me what the hell's going on."

The story came in disjointed bits and pieces, as Naruto stumbled over the details and had to back-track to re-tell some pertinent part that he'd left out at first. Shikamaru listened patiently, filing away all the information so that he could dissect it and go over it carefully with a fine-toothed comb later. Until that point presented itself, he'd glean what he could from the conversation.

When he'd heard that Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi had gone after Sasuke _again_, it was about all he could do to keep from finding a nice sturdy wall that he could beat his head against until it fell down, or until he lost consciousness. Of course, that sort of thing was never conducive to getting things done, and so he'd started planning a rescue, instead. He'd planned for every possible scenario he could think of, from Naruto dead to Sasuke dead to badgers falling from the sky, and his team had arrived on the scene moments after Naruto's spectacular collapse following his…Shikamaru didn't think he could call it a 'fight', considering how little of that there'd been.

So now, Sakura and Naruto were back safely, Kakashi was missing in action and Sasuke was gone again, back to the Sound, if what he'd told Naruto had any grain of truth to it.

Shikamaru wondered sometimes why they hadn't given up on Sasuke already. The Uchiha had made his own bed, and sooner or later he'd have to lie in it. And then Shikamaru stopped and thought about what exactly he'd do, if it were Chouji or Ino that needed to be saved from themselves, and he pursed his lips into a thin, grim line, because he knew he would have done the same damned thing. _And thus do we make of ourselves a paradox…_

How much more would it take, until Sasuke came to his senses…? Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, talking himself to exhaustion, determined and devoted just the same, and he realized that it would take as much as necessary, because Naruto wouldn't give up on him.

It was an admirable trait, if troublesome.

-

Kakashi wasn't fond of darkness. Of course, he could feign indifference to most things, but then again, little bothered him more than being helpless, trapped like some sort of oblivious animal, incapable of doing anything to save himself. In this situation, he couldn't even gnaw his own limbs off to escape, although he might have tried, had he the means to do so.

He'd managed to get the blindfold off, by rubbing his cheek against one of his arms, and it was draped now over his nose, a parody of the mask he generally wore. However, doing so must have dislodged whatever bandages that Sakura had applied to his left eye socket, because blood was dribbling down his cheek with a startling alacrity. Blood loss, unhealthy at the best of times, was doubly so for someone as injured as he was.

And silence had never done anything for his sanity.

As if to break that which had settled so heavily, he heard the distant murmur of a voice. _Sakura?_ but no, it couldn't be - it was too deep. Who, then? Orochimaru, back again for whatever purpose?

Whoever he'd expected, it wasn't Kabuto, limping into his cell, holding a torch aloft and looking entirely too pleased with himself, rather like a cat that's caught and carried a rat to its master. "Kakashi-sensei, hello…" he said with a disgusting sort of cheerfulness, settling the torch in one of three holders along the wall. "You look quite horrible."

Kakashi decided that wasn't worth a response, and so he kept quiet, studying the other man as intensely as he could. Kabuto chuckled at his stoic silence as he padded across the room to stand before Kakashi, reaching up to touch the bloodied cheek. With a mild sigh, he began pulling out various antiseptics and bandages.

"Sasuke-kun is with me, although he doesn't know you're here yet…telling him would be problematic, I should think. You should consider yourself lucky that Orochimaru-sama told _me; _else you might have gone without company the entire time he was away." Kabuto adjusted his glasses and began cleaning the wound. "Orochimaru-sama's new host is quite splendid, I really do think you'd approve. And he now has your sharingan, which was what he'd wanted all along, after all…"

Kakashi's mind kept pace with his heart, fast and erratic, as he tried to, as he had most of his life, see beneath the obvious. Kabuto was …testing him? To what point or purpose? If it wasn't a test, then what did he hope to gain from these mind-games? He couldn't think straight, not fever-weakened and besieged by pain.

"Where's Sakura?" he asked finally, knowing that no information was ever offered unless it was asked for, bartered for in blood. If that was the price he had to pay, well…

Kabuto's smirk was faintly amused, as if at some secret irony. "Back in Konoha, or should be, by now. Orochimaru's plans are always…elegant."

Orochimaru's style of 'elegance' had never struck Kakashi as being anything but horrific. _Konoha, attacked? They have to be warned…!_ "Where's Sasuke? Let me talk to him."

Coyly, Kabuto lowered his head to one side, the firelight glinting off his glasses as he did so. "I should think not, Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke's part in this plan does not involve you. He will return to Konoha eventually, under Orochimaru's guidance."

Kakashi almost called out again as the slight man turned and began walking away, pausing only to toss a parting quip over one shoulder, "I'll leave the lights on for you, Kakashi-sensei…" and then he was gone, and Kakashi had more questions than answers and more pain than reprieve and he still couldn't _move. _

-

Somewhere, Sakura was screaming.

-


	4. Desert of Discarded Dreams

Atrophied Illusion

-

AN: Nothing much to say about this chapter except that it was satanic to sit down and actually poke myself into writing it, ugh. I procrastinate like crazy, and it's terrible! Hugs and candy to all my reviewers, and thanks for your support! They make my day and it's always nice to know my work is appreciated.

_Please forgive me for who I am,_

_And what I have to do,_

_Please forgive me for my sins,_

_I'll put all my faith in you._

-Chevira.

-

_Desert of Discarded Dreams._

_-_

Sasuke was waiting in the clearing. A scant while earlier, Sakura and Kakashi had battled all-out here, won and lost on equal ground. According to Kabuto, Kakashi was dead. But then again, Sasuke had never put too much stock in what Kabuto told him.

And believing that Orochimaru's underling would lie to him was far easier to accept than the death of his teacher. Former teacher, he reminded himself after a moment. Orochimaru was his sensei now.

_You need to go back. _

There was little that could have annoyed Sasuke more than that single statement. He'd walked through fire to get to where he was; lost what few friends he'd had and had very nearly sacrificed both pride and dignity. He'd emerged with his head still held high because he was an _Uchiha _and that was what they did. And now Kabuto was telling him to go back to the dream he'd forsaken, back to the people he'd alienated, and pretend everything was over, that everything was fine. And he'd have to stand there and eat shit in front of an entire village just to satisfy his own demons. _When you return, you'll be taught Orochimaru's most powerful jutsu technique...with that, surely, you can defeat Itachi. _

Sasuke had told the other man to fuck off, but he'd returned anyways. Back to a clearing that had almost killed two of the people who knew him best in the world. He didn't feel remorse, or regret, or even much of anything. He felt the same he always felt these days. Tired. He'd stopped feeling anything else the same time he'd bent over Naruto and contemplated his options. He could have killed him and didn't, but he had made a choice. Either he killed Naruto and lived with regret (he didn't like to admit it, but he knew it was true) for the rest of his life, or he let him live and killed all emotion. He'd chosen the latter because it had seemed easier at the time.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

Sasuke was waiting in the clearing, when Team Eight located him. Hinata saw him first, her Byakugan engaged and primed for any unfamiliar chakra patterns. Sasuke, despite having been missing for as long as he had, was anything but unfamiliar. Hinata held up a hand and her teammates, having come to rely on her scouting technique, stopped at her command.

"Yo, Hinata?" Kiba questioned, touching a hand to her shoulder as if by physical contact he could abridge the potential answer. Akamaru, nestled in Kiba's jacket, sniffed the air and whined, a sure sign that he already knew what she was about to say. Kiba, taking note of that, did the same, and his frown deepened immediately. Shino, to her left, merely tilted his head. A kikai bug crawled across the bridge of his nose as if in question.

"Sasuke…Sasuke-kun…" she murmured softly, for Shino's benefit. "He's in the clearing ahead of us."

Kiba growled in a pitch so animalistic that if Hinata hadn't have been watching him, she might have thought it was his canine companion. And he, without preamble, he struck out through the trees in Sasuke's direction, his purpose and intent plainly branded across his face.

He was going to kill Sasuke, or die trying.

Shino, sensing this, caught Kiba up by the back of his jacket, tripped him neatly with one well-placed foot and restrained the Inuzuka effortlessly. Kiba fought but he was obviously unwilling to harm one comrade just for the sake of maiming another. "If he is there, we should consider merely restraining him for questioning," Shino lifted his face to catch Hinata's eyes, and he nodded towards their intended direction. "_Not _kill him."

"Gonna killhim anyways! I'll just beat a confession out of the stupid bastard first!" Kiba snarled. "Don't you remember what that fuckin' bastard did to us!"

"K-Kiba-kun…" Hinata tugged at his jacket sleeve, which seemed to calm him marginally. She'd always had that effect on him, and although he was still glaring when he looked down at her, she knew it wasn't for her. "Shino-kun is right, we should…"

"Stop talking about me, perhaps?" The three had been so immersed in their discussion that they hadn't noticed the approach of the young Uchiha heir, at least not until he was standing directly above them, half-camouflaged by the foliage of the surrounding trees. He had that dryly amused look that he sometimes got when other people insisted on making fools of themselves, and wasn't bothering to hide it. Immediately, Kiba jerked free of Shino's restraint and started moving his hands rapidly through a jutsu technique. Hinata squeaked, dove between Kiba and his intended target and held her hands up to stop him.

"Kiba-kun!" She was glad to see that her tactic worked, at least, because Kiba lowered his hands. "Kiba-kun, stop, please." She turned to look in Sasuke's direction, tried to smile just to hide her frown. "Sasuke-kun, will you…are you going…?"

"I'm not going to fight you, if that's what you're worried about." He crouched down on the branch and then shifted into a sitting position, dangling one leg over the side, looking perfectly at ease. "You're not worth my time."

"Hey, wait one second, ya fuckin' asshole-!" Kiba snarled and shoved Hinata out of his way, she stumbled and smacked into Shino, who held her steady just long enough for her to regain her balance before stepping back.

"Don't," Sasuke said warningly, and Hinata noted that already his eyes were the red-crimson of the sharingan. Even Hinata's Byakugan would be useless if she couldn't get close enough to fight him hand-to-hand. They had strength in numbers, but Sasuke had experience and a source of chakra so enormous that Hinata almost had trouble fathoming it. Almost, because she'd seen one other such source once before, in Naruto. Akamaru whined inconsolably and that seemed to quell Kiba just enough to take his attention away from their…what? Comrade? Enemy? He wasn't threatening them, but neither was he making their life easy. Hinata summoned up her courage and reminded herself why they were here in the first place.

"Sasuke-kun," she said quietly, and the boy turned his eyes upon her. She didn't flinch. "Sasuke-kun, we're looking for Kakashi-san…have…have you seen him?"

His expression hardened, closing off all emotions, leaving him so without so much as a single glimmer of animation. He'd been hard to read before, now he was impossible. Hinata doubted even Neji could have determined what his façade was hiding. "No," the boy said sharply, and he bit out that single word in a harsh staccato.

Hinata looked back and forth between her two teammates, made startlingly easy seeing as how her Byakugan was still engaged. Shino's face betrayed nothing, Kiba was still snarling quietly after Sasuke, but since Akamaru's protest, seemed to have gained a better sense of self-control. The poor pup was still trembling, and Sasuke's eye fell upon the pair with obvious scorn.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Sasuke-kun, I…I'm…sorry, b-but…"

He held up a hand to stop her. "I already know what you're going to say. 'You're an S-class missing-nin, we can't let you leave, we'll fight and die if necessary but at least we'll do our job.' You don't have to worry; I'm going to go with you of my own free will. I'll even let you tie my hands." He smiled, and it was not a very pleasant smile.

* * *

Sakura was still breathing. Shallowly, desperately, but surely. Naruto watched her chest rise and fall, fully prepared to alternately smack her or run for a medic if that simple motion were to cease. Tsunade herself had looked over the young girl, tersely informed him that she would live, and had said little else on the subject. Presently, their Hokage was holed up in her room poring over any number of medical texts that might be of some help. All in all, things didn't look very promising. Sakura was swathed in bandages, and apparently her rib-cage had been almost completely crushed. Tsunade was worried an operation would be necessary to dig bone shards out of her soft-tissue. Naruto had overheard that there was less than a thirty percent chance of success.

But Naruto wasn't worried. Hah! Naruto never worried. And not about Sakura, not ever. Because Sakura would hit him for it. It would almost be a relief, even though she was hitting hard these days. Naruto didn't really care if she beat him into a pulp at this point, because it would mean that she was feeling better.

Providing she was ali-

No, no. Sakura-chan would be fine.

There was a flash of something in the hall, a flash of something that looked very familiar. "Oy! Tsunade!" He heard the skidding of shoes outside the door and he leapt to his feet and chased after her. Tsunade hadn't stopped, and damn, for a fifty-some odd-year-old-hag, she sure could run.

"Stay here, Naruto, and you can consider that an order from your Hokage," she called firmly over one shoulder before resuming her mad dash to...wherever she was going. Shizune pelted past in the same direction and this time Naruto couldn't resist. He chased after the Hokage's assistant and tackled her to the ground, sending the omnipresent Ton-Ton squealing in indignation from her arms. Shizune kicked him off with little effort but paused long enough to help him up.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice low and careful. She had treated Sakura in those twilight hours when Tsunade had fallen asleep at the girl's bedside. Only Naruto had kept an around-the-clock vigil, and if Shizune understood one thing in her life, it was determination and devotion. Naruto had both in spades.

"Where the hell is that hag going?" Naruto demanded, pointing off down the hallway in the direction that Tsunade had left. "And why won't she tell me anything?"

Shizune flinched. She'd known that question was coming, but it didn't make it any easier to answer, or to hear.

"It's…hard to explain. Just come with me, and I'll see what I can do."

Naruto growled. "The hag told me to stay here." Never mind that he'd already made plans to disobey her orders, but he saw no reason to lie to Shizune about Tsunade's words.

The dark-haired woman offered a slight smile. "I'll take responsibility. Just come on."

* * *

Kiba and Shino had escorted Sasuke back to the village, and they'd sent Hinata ahead as fast as she was able to tell the residents what was happening. The Godaime Hokage had been alerted, ANBU squads had been scattered and as many of Konohagakure's young elite that weren't presently occupied with missions had been assembled at the gate, a wary court of jackals waiting for the return of the lion prince.

Sasuke, true to his word, hadn't fought the bindings that Shino had put on him, although he had protested the strategic placement of Kikai bugs over the chakra paths that Hinata had pointed out. Kiba had told him ineloquently to shut the fuck up, and Shino assured the shorter boy that the bugs would not attack save by his command.

Ino, waiting by the gates, fidgeted. It was not with nervousness, but with anticipation. Her childhood crush on Sasuke had faded completely, now there was nothing left but a sort of smoldering resentment. He'd almost cost her two of her closest friends, when he'd pulled his little stunt in leaving Konoha, years earlier. She had borrowed her father's katana for the occasion and her hand was sweating on the leather-bound hilt. Everyone present had swords, and beyond them, there was a row of genjutsu specialists, intermingled with people of various bloodline limits. The Hyuuga had donated several of their most competent members to the procession.

Sasuke would walk into the village and straight into the arms of an ANBU regiment, and he would be detained until further notice. But no one believed that his return was benign. Some had argued that it would be easier to kill him; some wanted to see him hung out to dry for what he'd done. Some still harbored some fond memories of Sasuke and wanted to give him an opportunity to speak for himself. Ino wasn't sure what she wanted.

Tsunade showed up scant minutes before the gate was opened, and from the sharpness in her eyes but the blurriness around the edges, she'd probably been sleeping when she got the message. She looked bedraggled and miserable, and had probably gone days without a decent night's rest. Ino knew she certainly had.

Trailing behind the Godaime Hokage was Shizune, in itself unsurprising, but behind _her, _Naruto had secured some sort of honor-guard's placement. Ino stared, because she couldn't really do anything else. Naruto, here? If he didn't attack Sasuke as soon as he came through the gates, he may certainly lead to aggression on Sasuke's behalf. Ino had heard fragmented reports of what had happened between the two recently, but never the whole story. Tsunade seemed to be trying to keep it under wraps.

Ino slid her naked katana back into its sheath at her waist and began forming the seals for her mind switching technique, holding off on the last one until things showed any sign of being problematic. She'd only have one chance, but if she could center in on either Naruto or Sasuke, she might be able to prevent some damage, for a few minutes at least, until ANBU had things under control.

She hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

Sasuke entered Konohagakure like a visiting prince, an emissary from some rich, wealthy country of splendor. He didn't enter like a fugitive, come home with his tail between his legs. He wasn't glaring at anyone, but his haughty gaze transcended mere condescension. He was completely ignoring them, as if he had failed to notice their presence.

However, his countenance changed the instant he saw Naruto. His shoulders stiffened and his jaw went rigid, and Naruto, upon observation, looked…smug.

"Hah!" Naruto called across the complex, although there was at least fifty feet between them. "Told you so!"

Sasuke flexed his shoulders a final time, testing the bonds, but Kiba's handiwork was strong, and he reasoned that he wouldn't be able to break them before half a dozen people pounced on him. He settled for looking sideways and standing with half-lidded eyes, unobservant. But everyone close enough to him noticed the pinwheeling of his sharingan, and everyone's tension was immediately cranked up another few notches.

Tsunade, hands on her hips, stared Sasuke down. He eventually turned his attention back to her, she was rather hard to ignore. Her chakra was flaring intermittently, the way a person's could when they were angry, and her eyes were hard.

"What…" She paused, and Ino found herself imagining that the Godaime was editing out several choice expletives. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

If anyone at this point hadn't been looking at Sasuke, they were now. He shifted from one foot to the other, but Ino doubted it was out of uneasiness. And then he eased his bound arms upwards into a shrug, and smirked in that little way that all the girls had found so alluring, back when he was an academy student. "Orochimaru's dead."


End file.
